We use minimal (or CMC) surfaces to describe 3-dimensional hyperbolic, anti-de Sitter, de Sitter or Minkowski manifolds. We consider whether these manifolds admit ``nice'' foliations and explicit metrics, and whether the space of these metrics has a simple description in terms of Teichmüller theory. In the hyperbolic settings both questions have positive answers for a certain subset of the quasi-Fuchsian manifolds: those containing a closed surface with principal curvatures at most 1. We show that this subset is parameterized by an open domain of the cotangent bundle of Teichmüller space. These results are extended to ``quasi-Fuchsian'' manifolds with conical singularities along infinite lines, known in the physics literature as ``massive, spin-less particles''.
Things work better for globally hyperbolic anti-de Sitter manifolds: the parameterization by the cotangent of Teichmüller space works for all manifolds. There is another description of this moduli space as the product two copies of Teichmüller space due to Mess. Using the maximal surface description, we propose a new parameterization by two copies of Teichmüller space, alternative to that of Mess, and extend all the results to manifolds with conical singularities along time-like lines. Similar results are obtained for de Sitter or Minkowski manifolds.
Finally, for all four settings, we show that the symplectic form on the moduli space of 3-manifolds that comes from parameterization by the cotangent bundle of Teichmüller space is the same as the 3-dimensional gravity one.
We establish isosystolic inequalities for a class of manifolds which includes the aspherical manifolds. In particular, we relate the systolic volume of aspherical manifolds first to their minimal entropy, then to the algebraic entropy of their fundamental groups.
In this paper we show that every three-dimensional closed hyperbolic manifold admits no locally geometric $1$-parameter family of closed minimal surfaces.
In this paper, we show the existence of smoothly embedded closed minimal surfaces in infinite volume hyperbolic $3$-manifolds except some special cases.
Existence of Minimal Surfaces in Infinite Volume Hyperbolic 3-manifolds
UT Dallas, Dept. Math. Sciences（德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校数学科学系）；Department of Mathematics, The City University of New York（纽约市立大学数学系）；Department of Mathematics, University of Chicago（芝加哥大学数学系）；IMPA - Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada（巴西纯粹与应用数学国家研究所）
Motivated by classical theorems on minimal surface theory in compact hyperbolic three-manifolds, we investigate the questions of existence and deformations for least area minimal surfaces in complete noncompact hyperbolic three-manifold of finite volume. We prove any closed immersed incompressible surface can be deformed to a closed immersed least area surface within its homotopy class in any cusped hyperbolic three-manifold. Our techniques highlight how special structures of these cusped hyperbolic three-manifolds prevent any least area minimal surface going too deep into the cusped region.
In a remarkable article published in 1982, M. Gromov introduced the concept of minimal volume, namely, the minimal volume of a manifold $M^n$ is defined to be the greatest lower bound of the total volumes of $M^n$ with respect to complete Riemannian metrics whose sectional curvature is bounded above in absolute value by 1. While the minimal curvature, introduced by G. Yun in 1996, is the smallest pinching of the sectional curvature among metrics of volume 1. The goal of this article is to provide estimates to minimal volume and minimal curvature on 4-dimensional compact manifolds involving som…
In this paper, we prove that if a quasi-Fuchsian 3-manifold $M$ contains a simple closed geodesic with complex length $\Lscr=l+iθ$ such that $θ/l\gg{}1$, then it contains at least two minimal surfaces which are incompressible in $M$.
A theorem on the existence of the unique minimal topologic handle decomposition of differentiable simply connected five-dimensional manifolds is proved. For a decomposition of this sort, the number of handles of each index is given.
The goal of this article is to establish estimates involving the Yamabe minimal volume, mixed minimal volume and some topological invariants on compact 4-manifolds. In addition, we provide topological sphere theorems for compact submanifolds of spheres and Euclidean spaces, provided that the full norm of the second fundamental form is suitably bounded.
H-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds in general Kähler manifolds generalize special Lagrangian submanifolds in Calabi-Yau manifolds. In this paper we will use the deformation theory of H-minimal Lagrangian submanifolds in Kähler manifolds to construct minimal Lagrangian torus in certain Kähler-Einstein manifolds with negative first Chern class.
We show that the Malcev Lie algebra of the fundamental group of a compact $2n+1$-dimensional Sasakian manifold with $n\ge 2$ admits a quadratic presentation by using Morgan's bigradings of minimal models of mixed-Hodge diagrams. By using bigradings of minimal models, we also simplify the proof of the result of Cappelletti-Montano, De Nicola, Marrero and Yudin on Sasakian nilmanifolds.
Let $(M^{n+1},\partial M,g)$ be a compact manifold with non-negative Ricci curvature, convex boundary and $2\leq n\leq 6$. We show that the min-max minimal hypersurface with respect to one-parameter families of hypersurfaces in $(M,\partial M)$ is orientable, of index one and multiplicity one.
In this paper, we show that a closed manifold $M^{n+1} (n \geq 7)$ endowed with a $C^\infty$-generic (Baire sense) metric contains infinitely many singular minimal hypersurfaces with optimal regularity. Moreover, for $2 \leq n \leq 6$, our argument also implies the denseness of the minimal hypersurfaces realizing min-max widths for generic metrics. This partially supports equidistribution of the minimal hypersurfaces realizing min-max widths conjectured by F.C. Marques, A. Neves and A. Song.
We investigate the maximal solid tubes around short simple geodesics in hyperbolic three-manifolds and how complex length of curves relate to closed, incompressible, least area minimal surfaces. As applications, we prove, there are some closed hyperbolic three-manifolds fibering over the circle which are not foliated by closed incompressible minimal surfaces diffeomorphic to the fiber. We also show, the existence of quasi-Fuchsian manifolds containing arbitrarily many embedded closed incompressible minimal surfaces. Our strategy is to prove main theorems under natural geometric conditions on t…
It is well known that every quasi-Fuchsian manifold admits at least one closed incompressible minimal surface, and at most finitely many of them. In this paper, for any prescribed integer $N>0$, we construct a quasi-Fuchsian manifold which contains at least $2^N$ such minimal surfaces. As a consequence, there exists some simple close Jordan curve on $S^2_\infty$ such that there are at least $2^N$ disk-type complete minimal surface in $\mathbb{H}^3$ sharing this Jordan curve as the asymptotic boundary.
In this paper, we obtain results on rigidity of complete Riemannian manifolds with weighted Poincaré inequality. As an application, we prove that if $M$ is a complete $\frac{n-2}{n}$-stable minimal hypersurface in $\mathbb{R}^{n+1}$ with $n\geq 3$ and has bounded norm of the second fundamental form, then $M$ must either have only one end or be a catenoid.
By work of Uhlenbeck, the largest principal curvature of any least area fiber of a hyperbolic $3$-manifold fibering over the circle is bounded below by one. We give a short argument to show that, along certain families of fibered hyperbolic $3$-manifolds, there is a uniform lower bound for the maximum principal curvatures of a least area minimal surface which is greater than one.
Piecewise Euclidean structures (identified solid Euclidean polyhedra) on topological 3-dimensional manifolds and pseudo-manifolds are constructed so that they admit pseudo-foliations, a generalized type of foliation. The construction of non-manifold point neighborhoods is done to preserve as much of the geometric, and vector space, structure of Euclidean space as possible. This enables structures, such as foliations and calibrations, to generalize over to pseudo-manifolds. The main result is that the cone of any compact topological surfaces can be given a piecewise flat metric structure that a…
We show that if $g$ is a Riemannian metric on a closed piecewise locally symmetric manifold $M$, then the lift of $g$ to the universal cover $\widetilde{M}$ has a discrete isometry group. We also show that the index $[\Isom(\widetilde{M}): π_1(M)]$ is bounded by a constant independent of $g$.
Almost-Fuchsian manifold is a class of complete hyperbolic three manifolds. Such a three-manifold is a quasi-Fuchsian manifold which contains a closed incompressible minimal surface with principal curvatures everywhere in the range of (-1, 1). In such a manifold, the minimal surface is unique and embedded, hence one can parametrize these hyperbolic three-manifolds by their minimal surfaces. In this paper we obtain estimates on several geometric and analytical quantities of an almost-Fuchsian manifold M in terms of the data on the minimal surface. In particular, we obtain an upper bound for the…
For closed odd-dimensional manifolds with sectional curvature less or equal than -1, we define the minimal surface entropy that counts the number of surface subgroups. It attains the minimum if and only if the metric is hyperbolic. Moreover, we compute the entropy associated with other locally symmetric spaces and cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
We consider the minimal entropy problem, namely the question of whether there exists a smooth metric of minimal entropy, for certain classes of 3-manifolds. Among other resulsts, we show that if M is a closed, orientable, geometrizable 3-manifold with zero simplicial volume, then the minimal entropy can be solved for M if and only if M admits a metric modelled on 4 of the 8 standard 3-dimensional geometries, namely $S^3$, $S^2\times R$, $E^3$, or Nil.
It is well-known that the Ricci flow of a closed 3-manifold containing an essential minimal 2-sphere will fail to exist after a finite time. Conversely, the Ricci flow of a complete, rotationally symmetric, asymptotically flat manifold containing no minimal spheres is immortal. We discuss an intermediate case, that of a complete, noncompact manifold with essential minimal hypersphere. For 3-manifolds, if the scalar curvature vanishes on asymptotic ends and is bounded below initially by a negative constant (that depends on the initial area of the minimal sphere), we show that a singularity deve…
We introduced an asymptotic quantity that counts area-minimizing surfaces in negatively curved closed 3-manifolds and show that quantity to only be minimized, among all metrics of sectional curvature less than or equal -1, by the hyperbolic metric.
Using min-max theory, we show that in any closed Riemannian manifold of dimension at least 3 and at most 7, there exist infinitely many smoothly embedded closed minimal hypersurfaces. It proves a conjecture of S.-T. Yau. This paper builds on the methods developed by F. C. Marques and A. Neves.
Let $(M,g)$ be an asymptotically flat $3$-manifold containing no closed embedded minimal surfaces. We prove that for every point $p\in M$ there exists a complete properly embedded minimal plane in $M$ containing $p$.
We compute the Minimal Entropy of every closed, orientable $3$-manifold, showing that its cube equals the sum of the cubes of the minimal entropies of each hyperbolic component arising from the $JSJ$ decomposition of each prime summand. As a consequence we show that the cube of the Minimal Entropy is additive with respect to both the prime and the $JSJ$ decomposition, thus concluding that for closed orientable $3$-manifolds the cube of the Minimal Entropy is proportional to the simplicity volume. This answers a conjecture asked by Anderson and Paternain for irreducible manifolds.
By making use of the symplectic reduction and the cohomogeneity method, we give a general method for constructing Hamiltonian minimal submanifolds in Kaehler manifolds with symmetries. As applications, we construct infinitely many nontrivial complete Hamiltonian minimal submanifolds in CP^n and C^n.
We compute the Euler-Poincaré characteristic of the homogeneous compact manifolds that can be described as minimal orbits for the action of a real form in a complex flag manifold.
We consider immersions of a Riemann surface into a manifold with $G_2$-holonomy and give criteria for them to be conformal and harmonic, in terms of an associated Gauss map.
We study the Dirichlet problem at infinity on a Cartan-Hadamard manifold for a large class of operators containing in particular the p-Laplacian and the minimal graph operator.
Using the classical approach we show the existence of disc type solutions to the asymptotic Plateau problem in certain Hadamard manifolds which may have arbitrarily strong curvature and volume growth.
We prove the existence of minimal hypersurfaces for the Dirichlet that extends a similar result of Jenkins and Serrin in Euclidean Space to Riemannian ambient manifolds
In this paper, we study stable weighted minimal hypersurfaces in manifolds with nonnegative Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature. We will give some geometric and topological applications. In particular, we give some partial classification of complete 3-manifolds with nonnegative Bakry-Emery Ricci curvature assuming that $f$ is bounded.
We study the Yamabe flow on compact Riemannian manifolds of dimensions greater than two with minimal boundary. Convergence to a metric with constant scalar curvature and minimal boundary is established in dimensions up to seven, and in any dimensions if the manifold is spin.
Let $(M,g)$ be a complete, simply connected Riemannian manifold of dimension 3 without conjugate points. We show that $M$ is a flat manifold, provided $M$ is asymptotically harmonic of constant $h = 0$.
Let (M,g) be a non-compact and complete Riemannian manifold with minimal horospheres and infinite injectivity radius. We prove that bounded functions on (M,g) satisfying the mean-value property are constant. We extend thus a result of A. Ranjan and H. Shah who proved a similar result for bounded harmonic functions on harmonic manifolds with minimal horospheres.
In this article we construct a minimal symplectic 4-manifold R that has small Euler characteristic (e(R)=8) and two essential Lagrangian tori with nice properties. These properties make R particularly suitable for constructing interesting examples of symplectic manifolds with small Euler characteristic. In particular, we construct an exotic symplectic CP^2# 5(-CP^2), the smallest known minimal symplectic 4-manifold with pi_1=Z, the smallest known minimal symplectic 4-manifolds with pi_1=Z/a + Z/b for all a,b in Z, and the smallest known minimal symplectic 4-manifold with pi_1=Z^3. We use the p…
We prove a local rigidity result for infinitesimally rigid capillary surfaces in some Riemannian $3$-manifolds with mean convex boundary. We also derive bounds on the genus, number of boundary components and area of any compact two-sided capillary minimal surface with low index under certain assumptions on the curvature of the ambient manifold and of its boundary.
In this article we prove that all boundary points of a minimal oriented hypersurface in a Riemannian manifold are regular, that is, in a neighborhood of any boundary point, the minimal surface is a $\mathcal{C}^{1, \frac14}$ submanifold with boundary.
We give an estimate of the first eigenvalue of the Laplace operator on a complete noncompact stable minimal hypersurface $M$ in a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold with pinched negative sectional curvature. In the same ambient space, we prove that if a complete minimal hypersurface $M$ has sufficiently small total scalar curvature then $M$ has only one end. We also obtain a vanishing theorem for $L^2$ harmonic 1-forms on minimal hypersurfaces in a Riemannian manifold with sectional curvature bounded below by a negative constant. Moreover we provide sufficient conditions for a minim…
We prove there exists a compact embedded minimal surface in a complete finite volume hyperbolic $3$-manifold $\mathcal{N}$. We also obtain a least area, incompressible, properly embedded, finite topology, $2$-sided surface. We prove a properly embedded minimal surface of bounded curvature has finite topology. This determines its asymptotic behavior. Some rigidity theorems are obtained.
We prove the existence of free boundary minimal annuli inside suitably convex subsets of three-dimensional Riemannian manifolds with nonnegative Ricci curvature $-$ including strictly convex domains of the Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^3$.
We prove a reflection principle for minimal surfaces in smooth (non necessarily analytic) three manifolds and we give an explicit application when the ambient space is just a smooth manifold.
We establish a min-max estimate on the volume width of a closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature. More precisely, we show that every closed Riemannian manifold with nonnegative Ricci curvature admits a PL Morse function whose level set volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold. As a consequence of this sweep-out estimate, there exists an embedded, closed (possibly singular) minimal hypersurface whose volume is bounded in terms of the volume of the manifold.
Let $Σ$ be a complete Riemannian manifold with the volume doubling property and the uniform Neumann-Poincar$\mathrm{\acute{e}}$ inequality. We show that any positive minimal graphic function on $Σ$ is a constant.
We state and prove a Chern-Osserman Inequality in terms of the volume growth for minimal surfaces properly immersed in a Cartan-Hadamard manifold N with sectional curvatures bounded from above by a negative quantity.
We study minimal immersions of closed surfaces (of genus $g \ge 2$) in hyperbolic 3-manifolds, with prescribed data $(σ, tα)$, where $σ$ is a conformal structure on a topological surface $S$, and $αdz^2$ is a holomorphic quadratic differential on the surface $(S,σ)$. We show that, for each $t \in (0,τ_0)$ for some $τ_0 > 0$, depending only on $(σ, α)$, there are at least two minimal immersions of closed surface of prescribed second fundamental form $Re(tα)$ in the conformal structure $σ$. Moreover, for $t$ sufficiently large, there exists no such minimal immersion. Asymptotically, as $t \to 0$…
